Democrat Julie Lofstad of Hampton Bays defeated Richard Yastrzemski (R-Southampton) by a wide margin in yesterday’s special election to fill a vacancy created on the Southampton Town Board by the resignation of a sitting councilman in November.
Lofstad won 62 percent to Yastrzemski’s 38 percent: 2,771 to 1,771 votes, according to unofficial results tabulated by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
She fills the vacancy created when Brad Bender of Northampton resigned in November following his arrest on drug charges and will be sworn into office as soon as the results are official. Lofstad will fill the remainder of Bender’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2017.
Lofstad, a graduate of Hampton Bays High School, who has a bachelor’s degree in air commerce/flight technology and holds a commercial pilot’s license, has helped run her family’s commercial fishing business in Hampton Bays for the past 15 years, while raising a family and staying active in community affairs. She is a cofounder of the Hampton Bays Mothers Association and has been actively involved in parent groups in the Hampton Bays school district for more than a decade.
Yastrzemski, deputy mayor and trustee for Southampton Village, ran unsuccessfully for Southampton town supervisor in November. He was defeated by Jay Schneiderman, an Independence Party member and former county legislator who has run for office on the Democratic party line.
With Lofstad’s election, there are now two Democratic council members (she and John Bouvier) and two Republican council members (Christine Scalera and Stan Glinka) of the Southampton Town Board.
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